TV GUIDE: Roush Review: Lots of New TV, But Only One Kills It
Apr 1, 2011
by Matt Roush
... Chaos
(Friday, 8/7c, CBS)
The title of this muddled "comedic drama" (CBS's words) refers to the Clandestine Administration and Oversight Services division of the CIA, where a rogue team known as the Office of Disruptive Services (ODS) operates. Never mind the alphabet soup. The real chaos here is a collision of tones. Chaos looks like The Unit — a solid action drama CBS canceled too soon, in part because it wasn't produced in-house — but it feels more like a Chuck wannabe in its focus on Rick Martinez, a frantic, haplessly naïve newbie (Six Feet Under's Freddy Rodriguez) who's in over his head as he confronts the absurdities within an agency where, quoting a veteran agent, "Inaction has become the battle cry."
I give any CBS show credit that tries to be a bit different, that aims a little higher or more off-kilter than Criminal Minds: Disgusting Behavior. But this one pushes the zany aspects too hard, trivializing the missions while neglecting such elements as grit, wit and heart. The cast is appealing enough, starting with the eternally boyish Rodriguez, whose first meeting with the gruff penny-pinching boss (a typecast Kurtwood Smith) turns him into an unwilling mole forced to spy on his fellow agents: Without a Trace's Eric Close as a cynical drone, James Murray as a cocky Scot and Tim Blake Nelson as a seemingly milquetoast veteran who, when pressed, can unleash "human weapon" qualities. (Is he their Intersect?)
The Chaos pilot is a bit overstuffed with predictable reversals, in which every time Rick tries to see his new team in a positive light — "You're not bad for the sake of being bad; you're bad for the sake of doing good!" — he's obviously headed for a fall. Once they get to know each other, and we get to know them, maybe the show will become as funny as it thinks it is or as exciting as we might like it to be. Right now, it only makes me miss The Unit.
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